Which hole in PGA golf  makes the Great, the Good and the Not-so-Good quiver?

Why the 17th at Sawgrass, of course.  And we expect the most famous, or better yet, infamous par 3 on the Tour will again take its toll at the 2010 Players Championship.

The 17th is 137 yards long with a challenging, if not impossible, island green surrounded on all sides by water (it’s an island after all) except for the narrow path from  the tee. Even if you hit the target there are no guaranteed “gimmees”.  But then again there was  Tiger’s extraodinary putt in the 2006 Players. Take a look again at that beauty:

And what club to take? Sand wedge? Pitching wedge? 9 iron? 8 iron? – how about slapping a 6 to the hole. All have been tried. We read on ogpaper.com that, “an average player will hit three golf balls into the water before getting to putt.” They go on to say that, “according to PGA Master Professional and TPC National Director of Golf Billy Dettlaff, over 120,000 balls are pulled out of the water each year arounf hole 17.”, 120,000 balls! That 10,000 dozen… At say. $25.00 a dozen, that’s a quarter million in the water on 17… And if they’re ProV’s?

The 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass can make or break a player’s chances. It just does not leave much margin in a close contest. Birdies are rare, double boogies more likely.

Just one more thing for the participants of our Champion of Champions Contest to consider before predicting the winner of the 2010 Players Championship! Make sure to beat the deadline, tomorrow, May 5th at 11:59 GMT…

Let’s see what happens this weekend….

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